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The indians or pirates will assault the town, making the town lose guards, whether or not they win the battle. You can also weaken enemy ports and cities by alerting Pirate Havens and Indian Villages. Always enter battle with more than one quarter additional troops than the city guards. Also, watch your troop's morale if their morale gets low enough, they may run away from battle. The soldiers attacking your troops in the trees will have less than a 20% chance of inflicting critical damage, and all damage is divided in half. A good strategy to remember is to hide in the trees. I.e., a destroyer with only Anti-Missile and/or Anti-Mortar will only gain experience when the ship is damaged, not when it destroys incoming fire.Land battles are difficult to win, even if you have more soldiers than the enemy.
If your ship has defensive weapons only it will not gain experience unless it is damaged/destroyed. On May 6, 2014, Kixeye created 20 new Veteran experience levels past the original 5 for some extraordinary rankings. Previously there were only 5 levels of VXP namely recruit 2 to 5 and Hunter 1 (the single star). Levels make the list easier to understand about ranking and its changes. The top level icon is Level 25 - Legendary Skull with 75% boosts!. Recruit 5 is three chevrons with a diamond underneath. The icons for beginner experience (XP) levels are one chevron, two chevrons, three chevrons. Each experience level has a distinct icon. The amount of VXP needed for a ship to advance from one rank to the next is dependent on the type of ship. Cargo Salvage Fleets do sink automatically after pone hour of neglect (new feature, June 2015). A very popular method to increase VXP or rank quickly is in sinking multiple Drac cargo fleets however, please clean up your mess afterwards else sector broadcast "Free Cargo in sector !". A ship gains 1 vxp for each 10% of its own armor points it incurs to another ship (e.g., if your ship has 10,000 armor points it must do 1,000 points of damage in a single combat to get 1 vxp). A ship would need to be completely destroyed in a battle to gain 10 points from being damaged.
Up to 20 veteran experience points (VXP) can be gained per combat 10 points for damage done and 10 points for damage taken.
There are 25 ranks now which could increase reload bonus and turn speed by to a maximum of 75% (these many additional ranks after rank #5 - one star - were added early May 2014). Each ship's rank is increased as it gains experience. Ship ranks grant their ship a percent increase in its firing rate and turning speed. Chat abbreviation for Veterancy Experience Points is VXP. The Veterancy Experience Points formerly known as Ship Rank.